Prioritizing Online Threat Enforcement Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, imagine waking up every morning with the dread that you will face hundreds of violent threats as soon as you get to work.

Imagine that, while you are in your office, people threaten to sexually assault you, and they know where you live, when you are home, and who your family members are. Maybe they even show you the weapon they will use in the future to harm you. We would never tolerate this in our offices, but this is a daily reality for women online.

Right now, millions of women and girls are online, navigating their personal and professional lives; yet women will be targeted with the most severe types of online threats and harassment at a rate 27 times higher than that of men. Although these threats occur online, there is nothing virtual about their devastating impacts on women's lives.

Meet Jessica Valenti, a journalist who founded a site that features topics like women in the media, women's health, and LGBT rights. The price Jessica pays for creating this forum and expressing a feminist point of view on the Internet is an unrelenting barrage of rape and death threats.

After threats forced her to leave her home, to change her bank accounts, and to change her phone number, she contacted the FBI. The FBI advised her to never walk outside by herself and to leave her home until the threats blow over. The threats continue today, 4 years later.

In Pennsylvania, a women described her terror after her abuser announced on Facebook that he planned to tie her up, put her in a trunk, pull out her teeth one by one, and then her nails, chop her into pieces, but keep her alive long enough to feel the pain.

Then there is the story of my constituent, Brianna Wu, a video game developer who had to flee her home with her family in the middle of the night after specific threats to rape and to kill her and her husband. Her online attackers released her home address and described in graphic detail the acts of violence they were planning.

Another woman moved nine times in an 18-month period out of fear of online threats. She moved across the country and changed her job four times just to stay safe.

None of the people who made these threats has been prosecuted, and most of the examples I have of online threats that women, including myself, have received are too vile and obscene to share on the House floor. In Jessica Valenti's words: ``When people say you should be raped and killed for years on end, it takes a toll on your soul.''

For Jessica and Brianna and other victims of severe threats online, there are huge financial and professional impacts. They have lost work opportunities and have spent money on legal advice, protective services, and temporary housing.

They have had to pay to have their personal information scrubbed from Web sites. This is a significant price to pay just to remain an active participant of an online economy.

What has been our response? In a 3-year period, of an estimated 2.5 million cyber stalking cases, only 10 were federally prosecuted. A judge in Massachusetts recently told one victim who works in technology and has suffered terrifying threats from an ex-boyfriend to simply go offline.

When I asked the FBI about the investigation and prosecution of online violence against women, they told me it is not a priority. By failing to address the realities of changing technology and a changing economy, we are failing these women.

It is not okay to call this an Internet problem. It is not okay to say to women that this is just the way things are. It is not okay to tell women to change their behavior, to withhold their opinions, and to stay off the Internet altogether, just to avoid severe threats.

For decades, women who have been victims of sexual assault and abuse have been told they have provoked their abusers by what they wore or what they have said. We have worked hard to change that culture; yet, by not taking these cases seriously, we send a clear message that, when women express opinions online, they are asking for it.

That is why I am calling on the Department of Justice to enforce the laws that are already on the books and take these investigations and prosecutions seriously. The Prioritizing Online Threat Enforcement Act would give the Department of Justice and the FBI the resources and the mandate to investigate and enforce the Federal laws on cyber threats.

It is not Congress' job to police the Internet, but we have a responsibility to make sure that women are able to fully participate in our economy. I urge my colleagues to support this crucial bill.

Let's keep the Internet open and safe for all voices.

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